Abstract

CERRUTI, Marta Quaglia  and  ROSA, Miriam Debieux. In search of new approaches to gender violence: the deconstruction of the victim. Rev. Mal-Estar Subj. [online]. 2008, vol.8, n.4, pp. 1047-1076. ISSN 1518-6148.

The goal of this article is to conduct a critical analysis, through theoretical concepts developed in the field of psychoanalysis, of public policies that address the phenomenon of domestic violence between men and women, especially as regards the latter. This examination shows that such policies address the issue based on a legal discourse that presumes that such situations correspond to an aggressor/victim binary relation, on that the woman, considered a victim of unfavorable conditions, deserves specific legal assistance. Our intention is to raise the question of the effectiveness of a discourse articulated around the logic of binary opposites - strong/weak, victim/aggressor - as a tool to understand the phenomenon, and also to discuss the possibility that this approach might contribute to perpetuate a view it aims to fight: women as weak and vulnerable beings in need of protection. This preoccupation arised from the experience of assisting women that suffer domestic violence in a non-governmental organization located in the city of São Paulo called "Pró-Mulher Família e Cidadania" [Pro-Woman, Family and Citizenship]. The approach consists in examining the insights psychoanalysis offers to help understand the construction of the victim from a subjective point of view, especially regarding the concepts of ego, ideal ego, narcissism, repetition, masochism and subjective implication. Our intention is to propose alternative approaches that transcend the strictly juridical approach that prevail today in Brazilian public policies that address the issue of violence between men and women.

Keywords : violence; victim; women; narcissism; masochism.

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